Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to software entitlements and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for managing software entitlements.
Description of the Related Art
Before a new version of software is released as one or more production versions, a pre-release version (i.e., pre-release software product) of the software is provided to a small population of subscription-based users, typically, for free. Other subscription-based users (i.e., subscribers) purchase a subscription to access the new version of software when the new version is released as the one or more production versions. Software entitlements indicate what type of subscription is provided to subscribers. Subscribers are provided a general entitlement to a software product, which enables subscriber access to the software product. Access to a pre-release version of the software product is a special entitlement. The special entitlement limits access to the pre-release version of the software to the small population of subscribers in order that the software supplier and creator have the opportunity to receive quality feedback from a limited number of subscribers concerning the pre-release version, while the current version of the product (i.e., production software product) remains accessible to all subscribers. In order to keep access to the pre-release software product separate from a production software product, the pre-release software product is stored in a separately accessible environment from the production software product. Additionally, pre-release users get a first login for the special entitlement and the same pre-release users get a second login for the general entitlement. This leads to maintaining information twice for a same set of user. Maintaining multiple environments and multiple logins creates a substantial expense to the software provider.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus for managing software entitlements.